Hard Core

Saturday morning we swam 14 miles.

Well, technically we ran them but it was raining so hard it felt like swimming.

Here is the sight we saw upon waking for the day:



And here is the inner turmoil we suffered:

Sleepy Self: "Get your butt back in bed. It's raining too hard and that is the perfect excuse to skip a run."

Dedicated Self: "But the marathon is in THREE WEEKS. What if it's raining on race day? They won't cancel the marathon, you know. We might as well get used to these conditions just in case."

SS: "Please. You could sleep in today and hope for better weather tomorrow. If you run in this weather your feet might fall off."

DS: "It's game time, biyatch. We've trained for nearly four months already and I'm not going to let a little rain stop me from this run. Now shut up and get yourself ready."

And thus, we drove down to the Lakefront to meet the running group. Sure enough, there were only about 20 people there instead of the usual 100 or so. These were the hard core runners. The ones who looked like they'd completed 10+ marathons before this one. And then there was Nate and I...standing around shivering, soaking wet, and mumbling obscenities under our breath. We might be newbies but apparently we are pretty hard core :)

The run itself wasn't so bad considering it poured for the first 6 miles, then it turned to mist, and then it was just plain old humid. You know the kind of air that wraps around your face like a wet blanket, suffocating you to the point that you're gasping for oxygen? Yeah, that type of humidity...St. Louis style but without the sweltering heat.

But no matter what, tapering your mileage from 22.5 miles to 'just' 14 is the bomb. Tapering is my new friend and I'm going to hug the hell out of him for the next three weeks. Me and tapering, sitting in a tree...

So about my feet: you can imagine that running for 2 hours 13 minutes with squeaking, wet socks and shoes isn't the best therapy for already shredded feet. Please note that I found the time to paint my toenails [hi, Kristal and Jenn] to mask the disgusting-ness.




Before I get into the gruesome detail shots, I know my previous toe pictures caused quite the uproar with some of you. So please do not scroll down if you are eating, just waking for the day, or if you have a weak stomach. If you hate feet then you'll despise mine. They've gotten worse, my friends. Don't say I didn't warn you this time. It's your decision...







wait for it....










wait...














































Ta Da!

Apparently wet callouses turn into this white junk. What do you think would happen if I strolled into a nail salon with this hot mess of a foot? Do you think the pedicure lady would pass out? I think it would be pretty entertaining.

Since I'm one of those weirdos who LOVE to pick/pop/pull nastiness like this, I'm pretty proud of myself for leaving the callouses alone. After all, these babies are four months in the making and probably serve some kind of protective function for my toes. If I pulled off the dead skin my new skin would be totally ticked at me on my next run, right? So I'm going to deal with the hideous growths for three more weeks and then it's Adios to the little horrors.

Thus ends your lesson for today: that running is downright nasty sometimes. Anyone rethinking marathon training now? Aren't you glad we are almost finished with this madness? :)